Meet The Pandas and China Essence

Nin Hao! Welcome to Beijing! On arrival at Beijing airport, your private guide will welcome and escort you to check-in your hotel.Your guide will help you with luggage and hotel check-in, and ensure your arrival in Beijing is worry-free.

Today’s tour starts at the Tiananmen Square, the largest public squares in the world and which is the entrance to the Forbidden City. Continually, go to the Forbidden City, the ancient royal palace served as the political center for more than 500 years. The expert guide will escort you and show you some interesting places you would never find by yourself before climbing the coal hill in the Jingshan Park behind it for wonderful panorama view of the Forbidden City.

After lunch at local restaurant, you will have a chance to take a local rickshaw ride through the ancient hutongs alleyways to look for the real culture of Beijing. You may see local artist painting operatic face or making dough figures in the alley. If lucky, you may also see locals play mahjong, a tranditional Chinese board game, in their local courtyard.

Your dinner will be served in a local Beijing roast duck restaurant. You will learn how to eat the famous Beijing roast duck in the correct way. You can also watch the chef’s professional cutting skills of the thin crispy skin and firm meat, as the chef will slice the cooked golden duck by your table.

After breakfast, head to the Temple of Heaven. A 15th century architectural masterpiece and UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is most revered spiritual monuments of ancient China and once reserved for emperors to worship heaven and pray for good harvests. You can see locals greeting the sun with their daily Tai Chi and other morning exercises in the park. Take some photos or you can even join them!

Drive about 2 hours to the Mutianyu Sections of the Great Wall to witness one of the world’s most spectacular sights. Afternoon will be the best time to avoid the crowds in Mutianyu. After lunch, you will take a cable car up to the wall and enjoy amazing views as it snakes across the hills and mountains.You can glide down the wall on a toboggan or see more of this section by cable car,if lucky, you may see the beautiful sunset along your way.

In the morning, visit the Summer Palace, built by Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty as a gift to his mother in 18th century. Have a pleasant stroll through the tranquil long corridors to enjoy the full flavor of China.

In the afternoon, take a flight to Xi’an. Your guide and driver will greet you and escort you to the hotel. 

Today you will visit the magnificent Terracotta Warriors buried with the First Qin Emperor more than 2,000 years ago. The life-sized magnificent Terracotta Warriors are great man-made pieces of work. After the visit, you will have the opportunity to learn how to make the mini clay Terracotta Warriors(optional) with your own hands in a local artisan’s cave dwelling.

Continue your visit to tThe best-preserved Ancient City Wall. It has been guarding the old Xian for more than 600 years. Walking along the wall and you will enjoy the wonderful view of the city, or you can rent a bicycle to cycle around the all. 

At the end of today, take a chance to stroll around the Muslim Street, where all the shops and restaurants are operated by Muslims. This colorful street is packed with shops selling a large variety of interesting local delicacies, snacks and souvenirs.

Your city tour will begin with a visit to Shaanxi History Museum, one of the best museums in China. It houses more than 370,000 piece of items including pottery, paintings, murals, as well as gold, silver & bronze objects and it must not be missed. Then go to visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built in 652 AD. It is a traditional Chinese-style architecture combined with Buddhist historic statues, murals, and scriptures. It is the landmark of the ancient capital city.

After lunch，take a domestic flight to Chengdu.

The highlight of the tour is to meet the symbols of China - lovely giant panda.You will arrive in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding this early morning, and this period is the most active time of the pandas in a day. Take a look at those adorable animals and see the their feeding. If you wish, you can also hold the pandas or take photos next to them (optional).

After say goodbye to those adorable pandas, you will head to Wenshu Temple, a fairly typical large Buddhist monastery which dates back to the Tang dynasty (618-907) and is named after a monk who lived there. It is the most important Zen temple of the area which possesses relics and attracts pilgrims. Afterwards you can stroll around the famous Jinli Old Street (550 meters long).The buildings along the street are all built in the Qing Dynasty style. You will find many bars, snack stores and souvenir shops. 

Fly to Guilin in the late afternoon.

After about 2 hours drive, you will enter the most beautiful scenic area near Guilin city - Longji Rice Terraced Fields. You will have the opportunity to hike up the rice terrace, and meet the ethnic people who are dressed in their national costumes. The minority people here has their own way to make food, they will use bamboo tube to cook rice,use local tea leafs to make oil tea and use local rice to brew rice wine. After enjoy an authentic lunch cooked by local people, return to Guilin city this late afternoon.

Today, you will have a relaxing cruise about 4 hours along the stunning beautiful and tranquil Li River towards Yangshuo, a smart small town. Take in spectacular views of the river while enjoying the marvelous views of the surrounding limestone mountains that have inspired artists and poets for centuries. The Gorgeous karst peaks will surprise you at each band of the limpid river under the blue sky.

In the afternoon, you can explore the stunning countryside by bike or electric motorbike (own expense) to see the farmers work in the fields and get a glimpse of local life. 

After a leisure breakfast, you will be escorted to Guilin city for your half day city tour before your flight to Shanghai. The highlight of Guilin city is its landmark Reed Flute Cave and Elephant Trunk Hill. Your first stop will be Reed Flute Cave, a brilliant cave marked on almost all travel itineraries.  The cave got its name from the verdant reeds growing on the outside. People make flutes with them. Inside this water-eroded cave, there’s a spectacular world of various stalactites, stone pillars and rock formations created by carbonate deposition.

You will continue your visit to Elephant Trunk Hill, the hill looks like a giant elephant drinking water from the river. There are not only many spectacular natural scenes around the hill, but also some ancient constructions in it.

After lunch, you will take your flight to Shanghai. Your guide will be waiting for you at the arrival hall and escorted you for hotel check-in. 

Your Shanghai city tour include a visit to the ritzy French Concession enclave, a former French colonial settlement. It returned to China in 1946. Despite redevelopment over recent decades, the area has retained its distinct character as a premier residential and retail district in Shanghai. You will also visit the traditional ancient oriental garden – Yuyuan Garden, a classical landscape garden and explore the Chenghuangmiao (Old City God Temple) next to the Yuyuan Garden.

If you want to discover the vanishing life of Shanghai, pay a visit to Shanghai old street and Nongtang is a must. Nongtang constitutes the most important architectural feature of contemporary Shanghai. It forms the most common living space for ordinary Shanghainese and an important part of local culture. It can be said that if there were no Nongtang, there would be no Shanghai and no Shanghai people.

End of the day,you can visit Nanjing Road and busy Bund. You will pass through back to the golden age in 1920s. Enter some old buildings to have find the luxury of the past. 

Free at leisure, until your guide meet with you and escort you to the airport for your flight home.